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Welcome to Am I Infected

IMPORTANT UPDATE
Posted Tuesday, August 28, 2012

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Author
Topic: Seeking Information (Read 476 times)

I had a condom break incident during vaginal sex with a CSW (massage) 11 days ago on one of the tourist islands in southern Thailand. My penis was exposed for ~30 seconds before I realized the condom was broken and pulled out, and it's also possible that I exposed a cuticle or two on my finger during foreplay as well which may or may not have had a small cut-- this part I cannot remember at all and hadn't thought about until just yesterday-- it's a bit hazy in my mind. I've browsed the forums for information relevant to my case, which has been helpful, but wanted to make a post to create some further clarity on what my course of action should be regarding testing for all possible infections. I'm traveling and will be for another 6-8 weeks. As of now, I haven't taken any action or told anybody of the incident. I have no symptoms that I can pinpoint, besides some anxiety about the situation.

The only risk you had was the condom break - fingering is NOT a risk so the state of your cuticles does not matter.

While the broken condom did put you at risk, it is a risk very much on the lower end of the scale. Hiv is much more difficult to transmit to the insertive partner and I have yet (in thirteen years) to see an insertive partner in this forum end up hiv positive following a condom break. I do not expect you will be the first.

However, you do need to test to be sure. As a sexually active adult you should be testing regularly anyway.

The earliest you should test over this encounter is at six weeks. The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days.

A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point.

You also need to test for all the other, MUCH more easily transmitted STIs. Most of the other STIs can be tested for at ten days to two weeks following a risk. However, syphilis shares a three month window period with hiv for a conclusive negative result.

Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:

You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together.

To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.

Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.

Anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.

If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results.

Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.

Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts